Re: Dave Raggett: Re: IMG ALT attribute in HTML 4.0 (fwd)

to follow up on what Mike Paciello said:

> I am inclined to support Dave's point; it's more or less a case of "what
> harm will it do" -- none. It provides an immediate solution to current (and
> older) browsers, it certainly provides a reasonable solution to the
> eventual OBJECT transition. Couger will be out on the streets very soon and
> my understanding is that several browers are still heavily involved in
> development.
> 

It's not so free as that.  The cost of LONGDESC is training and
the risk of LONGDESC is if we turn around and obsolete it soon we
lose credibility with the author community.

I don't yet see what a new LONGDESC attribute would do for users
of current and older browsers that don't process it.  The
immediate solution that works with legacy browsers is an
always-visible link created with the existing Anchor element.  It
means you have to change pages to read the description -- this
can get one lost -- but it does what it does with the browsers
our customers have now.

There are two questions I don't think we have answered fully yet,
and to the extent that we can answer them better before the
November meeting I think we should try to:

	- Is this the best solution we can get from 4.0?

	- Does this build progressively toward the long-term
		solution, or will we want to backtrack later?

On the other hand, I fear we have bigger fish to fry.  I was
talking to Daniel today and he said he would put together a
workplan for the Cougar Review action item so we can prioritize
and structure our work a little.

--
Al Gilman

Received on Thursday, 11 September 1997 15:05:41 UTC